Throughout the history of video games, developers have been fascinated with the idea of giving players a little bit more. Back in 1979, gaming saw its first Easter egg in the form of a hidden credits room in Atari 2600 title “Adventure.” In the proceeding decades, studios have continued to take pride in adding bonus material to their titles, with mini-games and side content becoming more conspicuous and outlandish as time has gone on. The Spider Tank in “Watch Dogs,” a hallucinogenic “digital trip,” serves to illustrate just how fond software developers are of mini-games.

Today, we’re taking a look at two of the most celebrated mini-games in video games history.

“Red Dead Redemption” – Poker

One of the most popular casino games in the world, poker has been recreated in video game form on numerous occasions. Ubisoft’s “Watch Dogs 2” and “Far Cry 3” have both offered passable recreations of Texas Hold’em in recent years, but undoubtedly the best adaptation of the card game came from Rockstar Games’ exquisite open-world western “Red Dead Redemption,” released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

Rather than merely being an afterthought, as is the case with so many mini-games, the title’s implementation of poker was fully fleshed out, with players having to learn to read their opponents’ unique “tells” in addition to familiarizing themselves with all the facets of the game.

Indeed, the success of “Red Dead Redemption’s” virtual poker, as well as its engaging take on fellow table game blackjack, may well have had an impact on the popularity of online casinos: players can apply the skills they picked up in Rockstar’s epic and use them to win real money at one of the numerous online operators, which review site CasinoGames.ca compares bonuses for at this link. The site also has a section dedicated to live casinos, which lets players measure their skill at Texas Hold’em, 3-Card Poker and other variants against a live dealer.

“Tekken” – Galaga

Namco’s fighting title “Tekken” revolutionized beat-’em-ups when it launched for the Sony PlayStation back in 1995. Successfully bringing authentic 3D arcade brawling to a home console for the first time, “Tekken” won critical acclaim for its sophisticated visuals, intuitive control scheme and engaging gameplay.

With a playable roster of up to 18 unique characters, the title introduced players to the likes of Heihachi, Paul Phoenix, Martial Law and King for the first time and served as the first entry in an iconic series that remains successful to this day.

The “Tekken” franchise has been renowned for its mini-games over the years, with “Tekken Tag Tournament’s” Tekken Bowling mode proving particularly popular with players. But perhaps the best of all was contained in the very first game in the series, as “Tekken’s” loading screen contained a fully realized port of classic Namco arcade title “Galaga.” Not only did the shoot-’em-up serve as a welcome distraction inbetween rounds of hard-hitting fighting, but it was also the only way to unlock the core game’s final boss, Devil.